Cole Swindell released his fifth studio album Spanish Moss in late June, ahead of his birthday and before the birth of his impending baby girl, who is due in early August. The ambitious 21-track collection out via Warner Music Nashville follows 2022’s Stereotype.
Two tracks on the new record pay deeply hearted tributes to Swindell’s parents, William Keith Swindell and Betty Carol Rainey, both of whom passed away. Fans will recall Swindell lost his dad in 2013 unexpectedly over Labor Day Weekend. The country hitmaker later dedicated his song “You Should Be Here” from his second studio album of the same name to his father. In 2021, Swindell said goodbye to his mother, eight years after the passing of his father.
On Spanish Moss, Swindell honors his late father with “Dale Jr.” — a song that shares his experience of meeting Dale Earnhardt Jr., and connecting with the professional stock car racer over separate losses. The touching tune recounts the exchange Swindell and Earnhardt Jr. shared, with the Georgia native singing about how the two didn’t talk about checkered flags or gold records, but rather, “We just did what missin’ dad son’s do / Yeah, last night I met Dale Junior / And all we talked about was Senior and you.”
Looking back at the conversation he had with Earnhardt Jr., Swindell says it was a ‘you should be here’ moment because he knows his late father would’ve loved the conversation just as much as he did.
“Being able to write about that experience and the fact that we didn’t talk about racing or writing songs or any of that, we talked about our dads. That’s how we connected,” Swindell said during a recent round-robin with Music Mayhem and other media of his interaction with Earnhardt Jr. “He’s one of the most down-to-earth, just real, just good people, man. The whole ‘Don’t meet your heroes,’ saying, he’s one of those that’s just, he’s an example.”
“He reached out about, ‘You Should Be Here.’ And I’m just like, obviously, we lost our dads, but his dad’s Dale Earnhardt, and I’m just like, ‘Oh my gosh. My dad would think that’s the coolest thing in the world.’ Although it’s such a terrible club to be in that we connected over something tragic, everybody knows his dad. The people who knew mine loved him, but he wasn’t in the spotlight. He wasn’t Dale Earnhardt, but to Dale Jr., that was his dad. You know what I mean?…. In those moments, you wish you could pick up the phone and tell him, I can imagine being like, ‘Dad, you will not believe who I hung out with last night.’ And that’s how we wrote the song.”
Swindell co-penned “Dale Jr.” alongside Greylan James and Matt Alderman and says he “always laughs, cause Greylan James said, people are going to look at this title and think it’s going to be like, I fell for you faster than Dale Jr. or something like that.”
“It is so far from that. …,” he explained regarding the subject matter of the song. “I’m probably the most shocked by the reaction of people, because I know it’s not about NASCAR, it’s not about the race, it’s about something way more meaningful.”
As for honoring his late mother, Swindell does that on “Heads Up Heaven” — a piano-laden ballad that prepares paradise for the sweet and loving angel that is Swindell’s mother, Betty Carol.
“Heads up Heaven, I know it’s been a minute / You got a waitin’ line, I got somebody in it / There’s never been a better reason to open the gate / I’m just havin’ trouble lettin’ go / Of the one who told me, the Bible tells me so / She’s always wanted to meet you face to face / Heads up Heaven, there’s a good one headin’ your way,” Swindell sings throughout the chorus of the heartfelt track.
“Obviously, don’t ever move to Nashville to write songs about losing both of your parents…I just knew being a songwriter, I wanted to honor my mom in some way,” Swindell said of his reason to include the closing track on his album.
Swindell lost his dad right before his music career took off. So, it was his mom who watched her son’s star rise as everything around his life began to change.
“Since I moved up here, she couldn’t believe anything that was happening. I just see the shock on her face. I’m like, I know, trust me, I feel the same,” Swindell recalled. “But I think when I had that title ‘Heads Up Heaven,’ the whole point of it was the lyric in the song is, ‘I guess I just wanted you to know what you’re getting.’ Just giving them a heads-up. She is an angel. That kind of was the whole idea behind [the song]. And I just love that ‘Heads Up Heaven’ sounded like something that would be perfect for that. I think the way we told the story is just giving them a heads up that she meant a lot to me, so take care of her.”
“Also, I think it’s just different. Anybody that knows that has lost parents, dad, and mom, it’s both not what you want to be going through, but it’s completely different,” Swindell added. “I think with ‘You Should Be Here,’ people could relate it to anything, but this is for moms and grandmas… I just think it’s written that way. One of my favorite lines I’ve ever been a part of writing is ‘She was always telling me about you now, but she’s telling you about me.’ I mean, just stuff like that, that’s why I write songs, and even the sad ones, those seem to be the ones that mean the most. And I’m cool with that. That’s why I love country music.”
While his latest body of work includes plenty of feel-good, uptempo tracks to balance out the sentimental, slow ones, Swindell says the Spanish Moss title of the record also pays a subtle tribute to his father.
“I was born in Savannah and grew up in South Georgia, both sides of the state, and it was just something that I’m very familiar with…,” Swindell shared of the flowering plant before telling the story of how the album title came about. “We were down in 30-A, playing golf with some songwriter buddies. Jordan Minton and I were in a cart, and we pulled up under this tree. He’s like, ‘What’s that stuff called again?’ And I’m like, ‘What? Spanish Moss?’ And it reminded me of a story, one of my favorite stories of my dad. I left his house at the coast and went back to my mom’s. And when I got back, I had something hanging on my gas tank and I went and checked it, and it was a handful of Spanish Moss that he had left in there, and that was the kind of guy he was… Spanish Moss, anytime I just hear somebody say it or see it, it just reminds me of my dad and South Georgia….. I just thought it would be a cool concept to name the album after that and just kind of base it around that.”
As for the album art, Swindell shared, “The photo was taken the day that Jordan asked me that question. I’m actually on the bottom of that photo, walking off of the golf course around sunset and just cropped me out of it and said, ‘Man, this would be a cool album cover.; So Jordan took that picture, so glad he asked me what that was that day. Or we would’ve never written the song and the album would be called something different.”
The country superstar is gearing up to welcome his first child with his wife, Courtney Swindell, next month. The couple’s baby girl is expected to arrive on August 5, according to Swindell, who revealed their due date while co-hosting Country Countdown USA alongside Lon Helton.
“It’s been a great year, waiting to be parents,” Swindell revealed. “It’s just exciting, nerve-wracking, amazing. August 5th is the due date. I don’t know if you’re ever ready. We’ve got a lot of advice. From what I’ve heard, you don’t get a lot of sleep, and I guess I’ll learn as we go.”
Cole Swindell will take his new album, Spanish Moss, on the road this fall on his headlining Happy Hour Sad Tour, which kicks off on September 4 in Toledo, Ohio and continues through October 26 with stops in Georgia, Colorado, Washington, Florida and more. On the trek, he will be joined by special guests Priscilla Block, Logan Crosby and Greylan James.
“I cannot wait to get out on the road this year for the Happy Hour Sad Tour,” Swindell shared in a statement at the time of the tour’s announcement. “Getting to write songs and make music for a living is a dream come true, and there are so many folks that make that happen! I hope the fans that spend their hard-earned money to come out and support us know how much we appreciate it and how much we love seeing them out there having fun.”
For more information on his new album or to buy tickets to one of his concerts, visit Cole Swindell’s official website.
